Im having some rotten luck with this bike.......

[gentner8]

Im having some rotten luck with this bike.......  

So I finally have my wifes bike all ready and Im about ready to install the new fork when I notice a small crack at the bottom of the headtube.  WTF!!!  The bike is in excellent shape except for this.  

Is there any chance I can get this frame raplaced under warranty?

Thoughts and comments are always appreciated.  Thanks.

[kiwi]

i dont think iron horse will play ball.its an x55 or x56 isnt it?

[gentner8]

Yes, its a 455 I think.  So you think I am S.O.L.?  While my wife will never see the types of terrain that I do, it still ticks me off.  I will just have to keep an eye on it to make sure it does not get any bigger.

As always, thanks!

[jeffhop]

i had the same problem on a cinelli road bike, it had a split in the headtube about 15mm long where some idiot tried to put a headset cup in that wasnt square. anyway i originally got a seatpost clamp and put that over the headtube which worked fine but looked unsightly, my second and permanent fix was a machined alloy collar, i measured the headtube and made a collar a couple of thou smaller in aluminium heated it up and pressed it onto the frame, painted the same colour it was very hard to tell it wasnt supposed to be there. im lucky as i work for an engineering company but if you have a machine shop nearby try popping in and asking if they can help you.

[kiwi]

i am no expert but could you get it welded.Not any old place.You need to ensure they are aluminium alloy savvy

[kiwi]

i am no expert but could you get it welded.Not any old place.You need to ensure they are aluminium alloy savvy

[gentner8]

The headset installation was the first thing that came to my mind also, but the bike looks like its barely been riden.  It had a plain vanilla diacomp aheadset, so I really can understand why somebody would have replaced it.  I have though about getting it welded, but I will just keep an eye on it for now, since it does not get ridden hard.  This bike is mainly a family bike trail kind of thing.

Does anybody know what fork originally came on this bike?  It has a Rock Shox quadra (i think) on it now.  Maybe this would shed light on why it was replaced.

[willem]

Guys,

I had a 455 back in the day, and if I haven't lost my mind (completely) I thought it was steel...

That makes the break weirder, but easier to weld.

G - take a magnet to it just for fun... see if it's steel or aluminum.